1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device for adjusting the height of the upper mounting or guide fitting of a motor-vehicle safety belt, and comprises a guide rail having arresting openings arranged above one another on both sides, and a slide which is movable in the guide rail, carries the mounting or guide fitting, and has locking elements which are displaceable transversely to the direction of movement of the slide, against spring pressure, from a locking position into an unlocked position by means of at least one push button.
2. Description of the Prior Art
French patent application No. 76 26 181 (publication No. 23 62 641) represents a height-adjustment device of this general type. In particular, the guide rail of this known device is an integral part of a sheet-metal box which is closed on all sides and has a front aperture in which the slide appears and through which an eyebolt for receiving a fitting for the safety belt extends into the interior of the vehicle. Furthermore, two push buttons project through the aperture; these buttons can be compressed transversely to the direction of displacement of the slide, with the result that locking bolts connected to them can be drawn inwardly out of holes located on both sides of the box, so that the slide can be displaced and the height of the eyebolt changed.
A disadvantage of the known height-adjustment device is that a person wishing to adjust his safety belt correctly has to exert with his hand forces which are directed at an angle to one another, namely, on the one hand, releasing the locking bolts transversely to the guide rail and, on the other hand, displacing the slide in the longitudinal direction of the guide rail, with the push buttons having to be kept constantly pressed together. A further material disadvantage of the known device is that, in the event of a collision of the vehicle in question with an appreciable force component in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle, the locking elements automatically move out of their arresting openings because of the inertia of the respective components, and consequently can no longer guarantee the correctly set height of the upper point of articulation of the safety belt. In another exemplary embodiment of the French patent application mentioned, this applies correspondingly as regards force components in the transverse direction of the vehicle. Finally, another disadvantage of the state of the art described in that the height-adjustment device is not suitable for smaller motor vehicles, because the device would collide with the customary roof lining due to the arrangement of the push buttons; also, the partially open guide box on both sides of the slide represents the danger of injury.
An object of the present invention is to provide an improved device of the aforementioned general type, especially for use in smaller vehicles having a closed design, this device being shock-proof. This means that the device is not displaced in an uncontrolled manner as result of impacts from any direction, and being incorporated as smoothly as possible into the interior design of the vehicle body. A further object of the present invention to ensure, as a rule, that the belt force is introduced into the part fixed to the vehicle under the best possible directional conditions.